Hearts: Card Game

Review by eFreeware

The people most likely to want Hearts: Card Game are those who already know the trick-taking classic and would rather play it against computer opponents than against strangers online. MobilityWare's version is free, sits in the Card category, and has been installed more than a million times. It carries a 4.6 average from over 60,000 ratings, which suggests a lot of players have settled into it.

What it gives them is a steady, self-contained game of Hearts: you take tricks, avoid points, and can shoot the moon when the cards fall your way. The developer describes adaptive AI that adjusts to how you play, and the opponents are bots, so you are not waiting on anyone to log in or finish a hand. That is the appeal in one line: a familiar card game you can play on your own terms.

How a hand of Hearts actually plays out

The rules are the ones anyone who has played Hearts will recognize. Every heart you take costs you a point, and the Queen of Spades is worth thirteen on her own. Collecting every point in a hand is the dramatic reversal the game is built around: instead of paying, you hand the whole pile to your opponents, which is what shooting the moon means here. The developer lays these out plainly, and the app includes a start guide for anyone who has never played a single hand.

Where this version tries to smooth the learning curve is in the assistance. There is a hints feature that suggests a play, and it can be turned off if you would rather work it out yourself. There is also an undo button you can use as often as you like, which effectively lets you take back a move you regret. Both are described as free, and both change the texture of the game: a hand you would have lost on a careless discard can be rewound and reconsidered.

I would expect that combination to make the game feel gentler than a table of live opponents. The flip side is that leaning on hints and undo can hollow out the challenge, so the setting you choose matters. The developer mentions a comfort and challenge level setting, which sounds like the place to decide how much help you want from hand to hand.

Playing without a connection

The clearest practical advantage of bot opponents is that you can play offline. No Wi-Fi is required, which means the game works on a flight, in a waiting room, or anywhere else the signal drops. The developer also points out the usual annoyances of playing with real people online, such as someone stalling or leaving mid-hand, and those simply do not apply when the other three seats are filled by the app.

The bots are described as adaptive and fair, adjusting to the way you play rather than following one fixed script. Whether that holds up over hundreds of hands is the sort of thing only time tells, but the design goal is clear: an opponent that stays interesting without becoming erratic. For a game like Hearts, where the whole pleasure is reading the table, that is the right thing to aim at.

What the free version includes

Hearts: Card Game is free to download and it contains ads. It also offers in-app purchases. Those are the facts of the release, and they are worth knowing before you start, because a card game you open for five minutes at a time is a different proposition from one you play in long sittings.

The developer highlights the hints and the undo function as free, both of which it says you can use as much as you like. The start guide is free as well.

The game was released in December 2019 and was updated in September 2026, with the recent changes described as new player tools plus performance work and bug fixes. That is a reasonable sign that the app is being kept in working order rather than left as it launched.

Who this Hearts is built for

This is a good fit for someone who wants a card game that does not depend on other people showing up. If your experience of online Hearts has been waiting for a fourth player or watching a hand fall apart because someone walked away, the bot-based setup removes that entirely. It is also a comfortable entry point for a newcomer, since the start guide and the hints do the teaching that a table of strangers would not.

It should also appeal to the player who wants a quick, low-stakes hand between other things. Because the opponents are always available and no connection is needed, a single round fits into a short break as easily as a longer session. The comfort and challenge setting lets you dial the difficulty to match your mood, which is a small thing that matters more than it sounds over time.

Players who treat Hearts as a social game, where the point is the table talk and the unpredictability of human opponents, will find something different here. The competition is against software that adapts to you, and the assistance features mean the game will meet you at whatever level you choose.

A dependable hand of cards for solo play

My recommendation is straightforward. Hearts: Card Game is worth installing if you want a faithful version of the classic that you can play alone, offline, and at your own pace. The free hints, the unlimited undo, and the beginner guide make it unusually approachable for a game with rules that trip people up, and the bot opponents mean a hand is always ready when you are.

The trade-offs are that it is free with ads and it offers in-app purchases. The opponents are software, not people, which is either the whole point or the reason to pass, depending on what you want from a card game.

For the player who wants to shoot the moon on a quiet evening without arranging a game, this is a solid choice. For the player who wants the unpredictability of a live table, it is a different game entirely.

What's new in version 2.5.1.2781

This new version of Hearts introduces helpful player tools designed to make gameplay smoother. We’ve also improved overall performance with a variety of bug fixes and gameplay improvements.